The Wager (The Blooms of Norfolk Book 1)

by Angelina Jameson

  “You have a fine estate,” Lord Peake said as he looked around the countryside from the back of his mount. “It is nice to finally be invited here.”

  Ambrose ignored the dig.

  “There is a pond beyond that bit of wilderness over there.” He pointed to the east. “I would like to see if the surface is solid enough for skating.”

  They rode through a stand of trees. His headache had subsided. He found the rocking of his horse’s gait quite soothing. His thoughts turned to his goal of getting Iris settled in marriage.

  Ambrose had never attempted matchmaking before. He’d spent the last month thinking through the proposal he would set before Chastain and the wisdom of it.

  He’d observed Iris’s behavior around his friend. He knew his sister, though she’d never admit it, was smitten with the viscount. What really made him believe his wager might end in a wedding was Chastain’s obvious interest in Iris. Before Ambrose introduced Iris as his sister he’d felt the palpable attraction the other man felt for her. He’d been more surprised than alarmed. Despite the rakish reputation his friend had picked up he knew Chastain to be an honorable man, especially where the fairer sex was concerned.

  “Your sister,” he recalled Chastain whispering. Ambrose had seen shock and disappointment on the viscount’s face before his friend quickly adopted a bland expression.

  Even more telling was the frequency with which Chastain turned up at the same social functions Ambrose escorted his sisters to the remaining three weeks of the season. Although he had an ample pool of female relatives in London to draw upon as chaperones, Ambrose stayed close to keep an eye out for fortune hunters.

  “I’m bored,” Chastain replied when Ambrose asked why the man now attended proper social functions in town. “Needling my father has lost some of its enjoyment.”

  “Bored enough to accompany us to Almack’s?”

  Chastain visibly shuddered as he replied, “Never.”

  Peake formed a comfortable camaraderie with Iris while Lottie preferred Chastain’s company. Ambrose wasn’t fooled.

  At the very least Iris would try to understand Chastain and possibly attempt to change him. To his mind that was an incentive for any woman to fall in love.

  Iris surely took issue with Chastain’s cavalier behavior. Although he knew the reason for the man’s devil-may-care attitude, he knew his friend wouldn’t care for Ambrose sharing his personal business with others.

  The end of the season had seen Ambrose’s headaches occur more often. By December he experienced a migraine almost daily. His physician was of the opinion his patient would suffer apoplexy or an aneurism soon. Ambrose had observed his sister with Sir Thomas many times and knew their relationship would go no further than friendship. However, an unsuitable suitor was the only excuse he could think of to lure Chastain into his matchmaking scheme.

  Turning his request for assistance into a wager was not his best idea. He knew Chastain wouldn’t be able to resist. If the man needed to pretend for a while longer that he wasn’t serious about Iris, so be it. The wager gave Chastain a reason to spend more time with Iris. Ambrose hoped he had enough time left to see not only Iris settled, but Lottie as well.

  He dismounted his horse near the pond. Peake followed, taking the reins of their mounts while Ambrose approached the pond. A tree branch rested nearby. He picked it up and poked at the surface of the ice. The ice held. He pushed the branch more forcefully against the ice and heard a loud crack.

  “I see you have your answer,” Peake said from behind him.

  “Rose will be disappointed,” he replied. “I will have to think of another outing. I’ve quite neglected her the last few months and am determined to make it up to her.”

  He dropped the branch and returned to his horse. Taking the reins from Peake he mounted. An outing with Rose would remove himself from the house and hopefully allow more opportunities for Iris and Chastain to interact.

  Once Peake was also astride his horse he said, “It is admirable the care you take with your sisters. I know how well you like your life to be one of peace and tranquility. Growing up with only a brother I have no experience with the liveliness of female relatives of a young age.”

  “You may borrow Rose any time you wish,” he replied, his voice only half-joking. “She is a handful.”

  They said no more and turned their horses and rode back the way they had come. He was surprised Peake had mentioned his older brother who had died several years ago. It was a subject he normally avoided. They passed the ride from the pond to the manor house in a companionable silence.

  Ambrose and Peake rode to the west of the house to the detached quadrangular stable block. Their horses turned over to grooms, they walked through a gravel forecourt on the side of the house to the sound of an approaching coach.

  He was pleased to see one of his neighbor’s carriages halt in front of the house.

  “Good heavens,” he said with a theatrical sigh. “I believe Sir Thomas has come for a visit.”

  “The young man you believe Iris is enamored with?” Peake queried.

  “The very same,” he replied shortly.

  He watched his sisters and Chastain approach along the pebbled path to the house. The viscount looked no worse for his walk to town in the cold.

  Sir Thomas alighted from his coach and handed a young girl out. Ambrose made the introductions. The girl was the baronet’s sister Emma. The party returning from town made their way over.

  “Hello!” Rose rushed to Emma.

  The girls hugged. After a vague goodbye to everyone, Rose walked to the house arm and arm with the other girl.

  “Sir Thomas!” Iris strode to her friend, passing himself and Peake with a nod of acknowledgment.

  The baronet and Iris clasped hands. Iris pulled him to meet Chastain. Ambrose smiled to himself. He couldn’t have done better if he planned the meeting.

  “Lord David Chastain may I present Sir Thomas Childs. The young lady whom Rose fairly dragged to the house is his sister Emma.”

  “It is a pleasure,” the baronet said. He released Iris’s hand and bowed elegantly to the man before him. Chastain muttered an acknowledgment.

  Ambrose saw surprise register on Chastain’s face. His friend appeared startled to be faced with such a charming gentleman as a challenge for Iris’s affections. Sir Thomas and Chastain looked content to remain outside in the cold air sizing each other up.

  “Shall we go inside?” Ambrose asked dryly.

  Affirmative noises were made. They trouped into the house as a group.

  “Did you discover anything of importance while you were away?” Iris asked the baronet.

  “I found several interesting items during my dig in the north,” Childs replied. “I have a small bag of artifacts to show you.”

  “Wonderful!” Iris came to a halt in the entry hall. “I must freshen myself up and then I will be right down. Will you and Emma stay for dinner?”

  The baronet nodded. “My sister would never let me tear her away from Rose so soon.”

  “Excellent. I’ll have cook add two places.”

  Iris excused herself.

  “I should like to clean the dirt of the road off as well,” Chastain said. He nodded to the other men present. When he left the room, Peake also made his excuses.

  “Go along to the drawing room, Sir Thomas.” Ambrose nodded at the baronet. “Excuse me. I have some business to take care of with my steward.”

  Sir Thomas smiled “That is quite all right, Ambrose. I think I can manage on my own by now.”

  “Just so,” he replied. He would sequester himself in his study with his steward. He needed to go over some accounts for the estate and relished leaving the household to their own devices. Dinner should be a very diverting affair.

  * * * * *

  Chastain found himself the first to return downstairs. Sir Thomas was in the long drawing room arranging bits of clay and pottery on a cloth he’d placed on a low table.

  �
��Ah, Lord Chastain I believe?” The baronet put down a shard of pottery and nodded to him.

  “Yes,” he replied. “What do you have there?”

  “Fragments of a Roman settlement.” The man’s expression became more animated when he looked at the relics before him. He wasn’t pleased to see the same level of interest on the baronet’s face when he looked up and noticed Iris had joined them.

  “Lord Chastain, Sir Thomas.”

  He nodded at her greeting. Iris glided to where the baronet stood. She looked unbelievably lovely in a green sprigged day gown. Most of the day she’d worn a bonnet. He was glad to again see her lovely hair. For a moment he wondered how long her hair was and what she would look like with it down about her lovely white shoulders.

  “Oh, Sir Thomas!” Iris beamed as she looked at the table covered in artifacts. “These are lovely.”

  All he saw were a few bits of brown clay. Whatever the items were, they resulted in a rapturous Iris.

  “Tell me exactly where you found them.” Iris took a seat on a nearby settee. Sir Thomas sat beside her. As for himself, he sat on a sofa across from the pair. He wanted room to study the couple.

  He supposed the man couldn’t help but be flattered by a lovely woman hanging on his every word. Chastain wasn’t sure what Iris felt for Sir Thomas. There was a connection between the two. It would take more observation to figure out how deep their bond was.

  Sir Thomas explained where he had found the bits of clay as Iris exclaimed over each piece. As for himself, he nodded when she held a piece up for him to see and made approving noises at the correct intervals. Her interest in the items transpired to make them more interesting to him. She was clearly in her element discussing Roman history. He sincerely hoped Ambrose encouraged Iris in her desire to search out antiquities.

  “You should go digging with us when the weather is warmer, Lord Chastain,” the baronet said. “There are some fields on my land I want to explore further.”

  He replied, “That sounds a pleasant endeavor as long as parliament isn’t in session. I belong to some very important committees. I wouldn’t like to shirk my duties.”

  “I would have thought your father sat in the house,” Iris said with a frown.

  “I am a peer and of age,” he replied. “Many peers ignore the responsibility, my father being one of them.”

  Peake entered the room. Iris belatedly offered refreshment; the men declined.

  “Ambrose?” Peake asked the group at large.

  “He has business with his steward,” Sir Thomas replied.

  “Where is my head today? I forgot to inform cook there will be another two places at dinner.” Iris rose to her feet. “Perhaps you gentlemen would like to play cards?”

  “I do believe I passed a billiards room next to Ambrose’s study.” Peake looked at Sir Thomas. “Do you care for a game?”

  “I think billiards sounds an excellent idea,” the baronet replied readily enough.

  The man was much too accommodating, Chastain thought to himself grumpily. Also, Sir Thomas looked far too comfortable at Marcourt.

  Iris was the next to speak. “I will put these artifacts away for you, Sir Thomas, and then be off to find cook.”

  The baronet smiled. Chastain noticed the man had perfect teeth. “Thank you, my dear. My bag is beside the table.”

  Iris began putting away the clay pieces. He stood up. It appeared Iris was dismissing them.

  “Do you play billiards often?” Peake asked Sir Thomas as they walked to the doorway of the room.

  “Whenever I’m at Marcourt,” the baronet replied. “My sister and I eat dinner here at least once a week when the family is in residence.”

  Chastain followed the other men but looked at Iris one more time before he left the room. She was concentrating on wrapping the relics in cloth. One thing bothered him. If Ambrose wanted to dissuade an attachment between Iris and Sir Thomas, why did he allow the man in the house so often?

  Chapter Five

  Iris smiled grimly as she carefully wrapped the bits of pottery and put them away in Thomas’s leather satchel. The lovely afternoon spent in Braxton had clouded her mind to the real reason for Lord Chastain’s visit to Marcourt. Chastain wasn’t making it easy for her to maintain her dislike of him. Not only had he approved of Rose’s writing, he seemed to not have any concern about a lady such as herself out digging in the dirt to find pieces of pottery.

  Thomas’s arrival to the house was most fortuitous. The evening provided many possible opportunities to irritate both her brother and the viscount.

  Once she informed the cook of their additional guests, she made her way to the entry hall intent on checking upstairs for Rose and Emma. When she entered the hall the butler informed her Lady Rose and Miss Emma had gone to the pinery in search of Lottie.

  “Here you all are,” she said upon finding the girls in the large glass structure at the end of the west wing. Emma skipped to Iris for a belated hug.

  Rose clapped her hands. “We have two pineapples for this evening’s meal!”

  She replied, “I thought there wouldn’t be more until next season. Well done, Lottie! That makes nearly twenty you have managed this year.”

  “Mr. Binns and the other gardeners did most of the work.” Lottie studied the larger of the two pineapples.

  “What will you do with them?” Emma asked, having released Iris and moved closer to Lottie to look at the strange fruit.

  “I will give one to cook and ask her to include it in the dessert course this evening. The smaller one I will use to fashion a centerpiece for the breakfast room.”

  Iris cleared her throat. “Lottie, Ambrose is in his study and our guests are in the billiard room. We can have a word before it is time to dress for dinner.”

  “Oh yes, our talk,” Lottie replied. “You girls take this pineapple to cook; unless of course you want to help me make a centerpiece?”

  Rose and Emma shook their heads. Iris was in complete agreement as she had little interest in flower arranging. No need for worry as Lottie was sure to do all the work.

  “We’ll take the fruit,” Rose replied. “I’ll be very careful with it.”

  Once the girls were gone, Iris and Lottie walked into an attached spring room. The room was chilly as the small stove didn’t heat the area as well as the flues used in the pinery. A large table in the center of the room was covered with greenery, floral cuttings, several vases and assorted pots.

  “How was your trip to Braxton?” Lottie asked while she sorted through the containers to find the perfect one for her arrangement. She selected a large ceramic plate with a shallow rim.

  “I think Chastain enjoyed himself,” she replied honestly. “We visited the post office and went along to Rose Petals for tea. The viscount didn’t complain about the long walk or the cold weather.”

  “Interesting.” Lottie placed pieces of moss and fern on the plate. “The boredom of the country hasn’t yet set in. In a few days the novelty will wear off. Or…”

  “Or what?” Although the object of the outing was for Chastain to despise being in the country, she’d been pleased he liked the village.

  “We will find out Chastain enjoys being at Marcourt as much as we do.” Lottie looked up and grinned.

  She considered that possibility for only a moment before something else came to mind. “We must remember to remind Ambrose about the assembly.”

  “I’ll ask him about it during dinner,” Lottie replied.

  “With Sir Thomas here for dinner I will have the opportunity to give Ambrose real cause for concern. If he thinks I have an interest in our neighbor perhaps I should act as if I do.”

  “Are you sure that is wise?” Lottie looked up from her work. “You wouldn’t want to give Sir Thomas the wrong idea.”

  She shook her head. “Not to worry. The baronet is too smart to be fooled. He will understand what I’m up to.”

  “As long as you understand your motives,” Lottie replied cryptically. She
placed the pineapple in the center of the plate.

  Better not to ask Lottie to explain herself. She might not appreciate the enlightenment.

  “I promised Mr. Jennings I’d look in on Anna tomorrow.”

  Lottie nodded. “I would like to go with you. We also might need a gentleman with us.”

  “Of course. To carry a heavily laden basket for the family.” Iris knew just the man for the task.

  “Why would a man like Chastain agree to stay here for seven days?” Lottie asked. “Other than Christmas dinner, we don’t have any special entertainments scheduled for Christmastide.”

  Although she really hadn’t given the idea much thought, to her the answer was obvious. “The man is our brother’s friend. Ambrose asked a favor and Chastain would see it as the honorable thing to do.”

  “Honorable?” Lottie asked in reply, her attention returning to the developing arrangement before her. “I didn’t think you believed the man knew the meaning of the word.”

  She had only recently realized the conflicting emotions being near Chastain brought to the surface. Having Lottie point out her vacillating opinions of the man didn’t add to her piece of mind.

  * * * * *

  Chastain dressed carefully for dinner. Or rather his valet dressed him carefully. The handsome and charming Sir Thomas had beaten him soundly at billiards. He needed a boost to his ego.

  “Another game?” the man asked after thrashing both Chastain and Peake.

  “We are no match for you,” Peake replied gloomily. “Maybe Ambrose can provide a better game.”

  The baronet shook his head. “Sadly, he’s less skilled at billiards than either of you.”

  He smiled automatically while Peake laughed. Chastain mumbled vaguely about having to dress for dinner and left the room with his tail firmly between his legs. He was a competitive man and unused to losing at any endeavor.

  His valet fussed over tying his master’s cravat for so long that Chastain was the last to arrive in the drawing room.

  He was dressed in black, his snowy white neckcloth tied in the latest fashion. His hair was disheveled in the prevailing style. He looked confident even if he didn’t feel it where Iris was concerned.